Wings of Fire: Queen Shorebreaker of the SeaWings
by RattlesnaketheSandWing
Summary: A SeaWing princess is suddenly ejected into the role of queen, and soon, someone tries to assassinate her! Follow Queen Shorebreaker as she tries to discover who wants her dead, and learns exactly what it takes to be a good queen. PLEASE NOTE: I AM BY NO MEANS AN AMAZING WRITER, SO PLEASE, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
1. Prologue

As Princess Amphrite of the SeaWings walked down the stone hallways of Jade Mountain Academy, she saw an IceWing. It was Frost, he was in the Sapphire Winglet, with Marine. Amphrite wished that she could stop her heart from speeding up whenever she saw him. _It doesn't mean_ anything _at all, right?_ Amphrite assured herself.

But it did mean something, she liked the way he smiled, the way he could laugh at his own mistakes. That he clearly cared about something other than what "circle" he was in. He cared about the other dragonets in the Sapphire Winglet, and those outside of it, too. He was great. But Amphrite didn't want to let herself love an IceWing.

That night, she laid in her bed, trying _not_ to think about Frost, and if she did, it was about why they could never be together. _I'm a princess, I can't lead my kingdom when I'm in love with an IceWing! But_ Shorebreaker _could take the throne instead,_ another part of herself whispered. Shorebreaker was her sister, they were from the same clutch of eggs. Thus, Shorebreaker could become Queen, too. _But I live in the Deep Palace, he could never live there._ There was a pause in her thoughts. _I could live somewhere else, though._

She frowned as she thought of what Shorebreaker would say. _"Amphrite, you're a princess, you can have any SeaWing you want! But an IceWing, that would never work out,"_ there would be a pause as Shorebreaker's face would soften. _"I'm sorry,"_ she would whisper.

 _Besides,_ the SeaWing princess thought. _Why would_ he _love_ me _, when I can't even decide if_ I _love_ him _!_

But little did she know, the IceWing was having a similar train of thought. Finally, he made his decision. _Tomorrow I_ will _tell Princess Amphrite. And it won't be like all those other times. I actually will, this time,_ Frost swore.


	2. Chapter 1: Dead

Shorebreaker stared down at her mother. Queen Conch flashed faintly on her scales. " _I love you._ "

Shorebreaker felt tears threaten to come. " _I love you, too. Don't go. I'm not ready._ "

Queen Conch looked back up into her daughters eyes. " _You are. Lead the Kingdom of the Sea well, my heiress._ "

The Princess was glad they were underwater, so that nobody could see her tears. shyly, she flashed, " _Okay. I will._ " Then, more confidently. " _I will._ "

Conch smiled. It was just like the last smile Princess Amphrite had ever given her sister. Shorebreaker closed her eyes as she remembered the painful moment.

 _Amphrite edged towards the door. "_ Where are _you_ going _?" asked Shorebreaker in aquatic._

 _Amphrite stared down at her claws for a moment. Then, she flashed along her scales. "_ Can we talk about this above water? _" Shorebreaker nodded_

 _On the surface, Shorebreaker turned on her sister. "So, what_ do _you want to talk about?" Once again, Amphrite looked down at her claws. "It's that_ IceWing _isn't it?" Shorebreaker shouted._

 _Amphrite looked up at her, and feebly nodded. "But Frost is wonderful, nothing like any other IceWing out there. He's funny. He cares about something other than some number on a wall."_

 _Shorebreaker sank to the ground, the rage that had been welling up inside her, gone. "I understand. I just don't want you getting hurt," the SeaWing brushed her wing with her sister's. "Would you like an escort to your meeting place? Anything can happen to a lone princess flying towards a secluded island in the evening."_

 _Amphrite looked into her sister's eyes, and smiled. It was a bittersweet smile, as if the SeaWing princess knew that she would die before she saw her sister again. "I think I can manage,_

 _"Here, I want you to take this," Amphrite took off the trident necklace she always wore. "It's yours now," she draped it over her sisters neck. "Keep it safe."Amphrite shifted her bag self-consciously, making Shorebreaker wonder what was inside of it._

 _She only found out a day later when Frost himself met her on the island that used to be the meeting place of Frost and Amphrite. He sat with the same pearl-encrusted bag lying open in front of him, an arctic blue egg inside of it. He explained how Amphrite had been an animus, and she used the last of her power on an enchantment that would let any animus after her with good intentions draw upon it's power, purposely or accidentally. But she went even further than her limits. She put her very_ essence _into the enchantment, binding her to a fate inside the sapphire heart._

A faint flash of Queen Conch's scales brought Shorebreaker back to the present. " _Take the bag._ "

Shorebreaker stared at her mother in disbelief. She had been told all her life to never touch the bag, and now it was being offered to her. It was was lined with small, white pearls, and on the buckle was a large black pearl.

" _You'll do amazingly. Take care of them, Queen Shorebreaker,_ " she took her daughter's claws in hers as her eyes and scales grew dull. Her breathing stopped. It crushed Shorebreaker's heart and soul to see the Great and Merciful Queen Conch,

the Unbeatable Queen Conch,

and most of all, her mother,

dead.


	3. Chapter 2: A New Queen

"I am your new queen! Queen Shorebreaker!" the words sounded strange in Shorebreaker's mouth. She had gathered the tribe from the Deep Palace. It felt more right to have the announcement on land, where all could hear for miles around, rather than in the water where only dragons that could see could listen.

 _Queen Shorebreaker_ … The words traveled like lightning through the crowd of watching SeaWings. She could barely hear the murmuring, wondering if she would be a good queen. A kind queen. A fair queen. A strong queen. What kinds of things she'd do. What she'd be remembered for. Things that she'd been wondering herself lately.

"If anyone would like to see me, I will be in the throne room all day tomorrow. Until then," she turned to hop off the rock that she sat on, feeling many eyes boring into her scales.

She sat in her throne room, watching the guard burst in. Along he scales, he flashed. " _An IceWing is on an island, requesting to see you. I, personally, wouldn't trust him as far as he could swim,_ " he bowed deeply.

She looked down to him, noticing his deep blue scales, _Ah, Stingray, isn't it? Mother's lead general, and her head of defense. Wait no,_ my _lead general and head of defense._ I'm _the one in charge of this stuff now._ Either way, Shorebreaker knew to trust his judgment. " _I_ will _go. But I will bring you, and three other guards._ "

He gave Shorebreaker his nod of approval as they set off through the sea. " _Is it okay if I bring one of the newer guards? He needs to get a better feel for what happens in this kind of job._ "

She smiled, and nodded. With Stingray and two other guards, she knew she'd be safe.

On their way through the Deep Palace, Stingray swam into the barracks to gather the guards he mentioned, flashing her to go ahead to the entrance. She swam through the palace, noticing dragons watching their new queen.

They swam through the currents, the queen noted Jetstream, or Jet, as everyone called him, along with Hydra had joined them. " _Who are you?_ " she asked the new guard.

He flashed a smile at her and illuminated on his scales. " _I am Hurricane._ _Joined up last week. I pretty much lived on the streets, too. That's why you've never met me before._ "

She almost cried when she emerged from the sea onto the island. It was the place a year or two ago where she met up with Frost. In the center sat a thick circle of soldiers. "Dismissed. The queen will speak with the IceWing now," Stingray commanded. The SeaWing soldiers exchanged wary glances, as if unsure if they should leave their new queen with the stranger.

"I can handle him myself with the help of these four if things get out of hand. Now go!" Shorebreaker had learned that sometimes, a lot of times, you had to be tough. You had to firm.

They disbanded, and leapt into the sea. An arctic blue IceWing sat in the center. His scales brought a long-ago image to mind. An arctic blue egg sitting in a pearl-embroidered bag. "Queen Shorebreaker," he bowed.

"Amphrite's son?" she found it hard to speak through the lump in her throat.

He did not speak he just nodded. He tentatively brushed his wing to hers. She took in a deep breath, and pulled away. "What is your name?" she asked.

"Polar. Have you opened the bag yet?"

"How did you know about the bag?" she demanded.

"Queen Conch sent a messenger. She told them to find me the day she died. It told me to tell you everything," Polar explained.

 _Mako._ she thought. She remembered watching Mako awkwardly slide off when Shorebreaker told her of the queen's death. "Anyways, yes, I opened it once. Let me show you," the queen opened her own bag, where she kept the message. "It reads: ' _I love you Shorebreaker, but follow my rule for a little bit longer. Don't continue to dig through until_ he _gets here. He'll explain everything._ ' I think you are the dragon she meant to wait for."

"So open it now?" Polar asked.

"It's back at the palace." Shorebreaker turned to Jet. "You know your way around the palace. Get the bag with a black pearl on the buckle from my old chambers, please," she turned back to Polar. "Now, start explaining."


	4. Chapter 3: Remember the Dead

"Amphrite was an animus," he began.

"I know that!" Shorebreaker exclaimed.

"So am I," he continued.

"You got it from her. But where did Amphrite get it from?" she mused with a frown.

"I'm getting to that!" he sighed. "Queen Conch was an animus."

Queen Shorebreaker widened her eyes. "And she didn't think that it was important enough to oh, I don't know, mention it in passing?!"

"She didn't because she was barely an animus. She only used her power once," he paused as Jet came back.

"She did say that she left the object in that bag," Polar pointed to it as it sat in the sand between them.

Shorebreaker found herself fingering with the chain on her necklace as Polar opened the bag. "Ah, here it is," he fished out a simple-looking starfish from the bag. "Say the name of some dragon you know that died, then tap it twice."

Confused, she said, "Queen Conch," to the Starfish and tapped it twice.

A slight mist rolled over the island, and at the center, was the Starfish. A silvery SeaWing seemed to emerge from the mist. "Hello, my queen," the being bowed, and Shorebreaker noticed a misty circlet upon her head.

The circlet was silvery, with little leaves sprouting off of it as if it were seaweed. It the center was a single black pearl. It perfectly matched the one now sitting upon Queen Shorebreaker's head. "Mother?" she asked.

"My enchantment worked," she smiled. "So, how are you?"

Shorebreaker glared at her mother. "Why did you never tell me that you're an animus?"

Conch let out a laugh. "It's not like I ever used my power in your lifetime. The moment I had you and your sister's eggs, I enchanted the Starfish for when I died. Speaking of your sister, hello Polar," she turned to the dragonet. "How old are you by now? It's been a while."

He smiled at the ghost. "One, oh, and Shorebreaker," he turned to the other dragon. "You might want me to do this," he pulled out a heart carved from sapphire.

Queen Shorebreaker gasped as he breathed a slight frost breath onto it. Another silver SeaWing joined them. But this one, had frostier-looking scales. Her movements were graceful, and as she bowed to Queen Shorebreaker, she said. "I've missed you, my queen," upon her head sat a circlet just like Conch's, but with a white pearl instead of black. And around her neck was the trident necklace.

"A-Amprite? Is it really you?" she choked out.

Amphrite smiled. "What do _you_ think?" she turned to her son, and tried to wrap one of her frosty wings around Polar. "How are things in the Ice Kingdom?"

"Great, but I brought you here to talk to your sister, y'know," he reminded.

"Hey, mother, Amphrite, why are you wearing stuff that you didn't have when you died? Like your crowns," Queen Shorebreaker questioned.

Conch cocked her head. "Who ever said this is what I look like right now? This is just what you imagine me looking like," she turned to Polar. "What do _you_ think I look like?"

"You don't have your crown, rather a thick, hooded cape made of wool," he answered obediently.

Suddenly, the two SeaWings began to fade. "Queen Shorebreaker," Amphrite began, her voice as faint as her scales. "Do me one favor. Never forget the dead. Remember me, sister."

"You can only use the Starfish or Sapphire Heart once a day, and only for a few minutes. I'd recommend only using it at night, as you might need their advice during the day, and you don't want to have already used it once that day," Polar advised.

"Well, this good-bye," Shorebreaker twined her tail with his. "I'll see you sometime. Keep me posted on things," she lifted into the air.


	5. Chapter 4: The Petitioners

She flew to the nearby island and collected her guards and flew back into the sea with a plunge. The water was cold this far out, and Shorebreaker was looking forward to her warm room in the Deep Palace. And a good sleep, as the sea was getting darker, heralding night.

The guards dropped her off in front of the castle, except for Stingray and Hurricane, who dropped her off at her chambers. But not the chambers that she had slept in the night before; or any night, for that matter. It was the queen's chambers. " _You_ are _the queen, as of now,_ " Stingray reasoned.

She swam into the large room, and immediately dropped onto the bed. She laid awake for a few moments, not comfortable in her mother's bed. She scanned the room with her eyes, there was a writing desk in one corner, with a few pots of permanent ink on top of it, along with a long roll of parchment. There was a rack full of scrolls by the desk, and an elaborate trunk or two in the other corner of the room. Between that was a simple woolen rug, built into the floor, so it wouldn't float throughout the room. She noticed double doors on the left of the bed.

Giving up on trying to sleep right then, she got up and swam to the doors. Outside was a balcony with a great view of the sea on all sides, except behind, as that was where the castle was. She looked up, it was still night above. The queen sighed, she wasn't going to sleep well that night. She pushed with her wings and swam up above.

Reaching open sky, she flew south to reach a secluded island. It was covered in thick vegetation. It was a small island, but it was there was a cave that went pretty deep. There was even a portion of it that was partially underwater. And what wasn't under the trees, was a clean white-sanded beach. She landed on it, settling down onto the soft sand.

Finally, the weariness from her day got to hear, weighing her wings down. She spread her wings across her back, and let herself succumb to sleep.

Queen Shorebreaker woke to the sound of some dragon winging off into the distance. She blinked awake, her head feeling incredibly clearer than last night. The queen watched a dot dive into the sea. "Probably just a SeaWing grabbing some breakfast," she assured herself.

She flared up her wings and jumped, she flew above sea, searching for something she could bring for Mako and the rest of the cooks. Seeing a seal sunning on the rocks, Shorebreaker turned into a quick dive. She stretched out her talons, and snatched up the seal as she banked from her dive. Squeezing as she held the seal to kill it, she dived into the sea again.

At the palace, she stopped by the kitchen. At the sound of a dragon entering the kitchen, all of the cooks turned around. Seeing that it was the queen, they all dropped to the ground and bowed. Rolling her eyes, Shorebreaker dropped the seal onto the table in the center of the room, " _quit groveling! I brought you something to eat,_ " she stalked out of the room.

She swam outside of the back door, and to the throne room. She almost cried as she sat down on her mother's old throne. The king's throne had sat unoccupied her whole life, and when she asked her mother about the old SeaWing king, her mother would just attempt to look busy and ignore the princess. And the other two thrones had belonged to her and Amphrite when they were young.

She blinked back her tears, and rolled her shoulders back as she sat. She nodded to Seashell as she entered. She was the royal scribe, when the queen held audience with petitioners, she would be there to record the queen's choices. Seashell gave her a large grin. Seashell had just graduated from being one of the regular scribes writing scrolls with all the others, and she was still a dragonet, too.

The door opened a second time as four guards entered. It was Lobster, Spray, Hurricane again, and her uncle Surge. Surge was Conch's brother, married to Splash with one daughter, Seal. Hurricane gave the queen a sideways smile, then took up position. Hurricane sat on one side of the throne while Surge sat on the other. " _Go on,_ " Shorebreaker urged Seashell.

Seashell nodded and stepped outside the door, she flashed something along her scales, probably something like, " _the queen will be seeing her first petitioner now._ "

A light green SeaWing with darker green for the glow-in-the-dark scales, entered the room. She gave a deep bow to the queen, and then began. " _My name is Seafoam and_ _I believe that we would be greatly benefitted by making an effort to trade with the SandWings or SkyWings. So if it would not be too much trouble, I would request enough treasure for my crew and I to set up shop in each kingdom,_ " she asked.

 _What kind of things would we benefit from?_ the queen contemplated. _Some treasure would be the most helpful. But_ really _I don't think I should invest too heavily in the shop in SkyWing territory; right? Also, how much should I ask for in return?_ Shorebreaker thought for a few moments.

" _I will give you all you require for the post in SandWing territory, and only half for the one in the Sky Kingdom. Half of your earnings in the post in the Kingdom of the Sand will go to the royal treasury, and a quarter of the earnings of the SkyWing shop will go there as well. Furthermore, I believe it should be regular shops rather than trading posts, as we would not find anything the two tribes could offer to us useful; other than regular treasure. Good day,_ " Shorebreaker dismissed.

Seafoam looked like she wanted to say something more, but she clearly thought better of it. She bowed her head, and turned around and left.

Once Seafoam had left, Seashell turned to look questioningly at the queen.

Shorebreaker nodded. The next dragon was a solider, " _MudWing dragonet, here to see you, your majesty._ "


	6. Chapter 5: The Pearl-Seeking Animus

Shorebreaker nodded to the guards, as she swam towards the doorway. They immediately began swimming beside her. " _Where?_ " Queen Shorebreaker asked the SeaWing who told her about the dragonet.

" _She's on one of the Southwestern islands, fairly close to the Mud Kingdom,_ " the SeaWing responded.

" _Did she state any reason for seeing the queen?_ " Surge questioned.

" _Nope,_ " he frowned. _Lovely,_ Shorebreaker thought. _A mysterious MudWing that's close to her own kingdom, so she can call for reinforcements if needed, and gave no reason for seeing me. Why am I doing this again?_

The dragons broke away from the sea, and flew southwest towards two islands. They flew over to the one closer to the MudWing Kingdom and landed. A few soldiers were guarding the MudWing. Queen Shorebreaker took a deep breath, and then smiled at the MudWing, she hoped it looked like a warm, trusting smile. Not an evil, "I-am-going-to-murder-you-the-moment-everybody-else-turns-their-back" kind of smile.

The dragonet cocked her head questioningly. "Queen Conch?" then, she realized she should be bowing.

"I am Queen Conch's daughter, Shorebreaker. You are?" Shorebreaker asked.

"I am Fawn, and Your Majesty, may we speak in private?" Fawn requested. The Queen thought for a moment. _I don't know her at all, for all I know, this could be all a ruse. The moment the guards leave, she could just rip out my throat._

"Go to the other island, but keep an ear and an eye out, just in case," Shorebreaker commanded the soldiers and guards. "Now," she turned back to Fawn as the guards settled on the other island. "I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here?"

Fawn looked up at the SeaWing. She was about 6, by the looks of her. _I'm three years older than her. If things get ugly, I'm sure I can handle her._ Shorebreaker assured herself. Then, Fawn began to speak, "if it's not too much trouble, I'd like a single black pearl. I'll even trade for it," Fawn pulled out a piece of amber. It was carved into a perfect circle, not too large or too small, like it was made for an anklet.

"I do not mean to intrude on anything, but why? Why ask me, black pearls may be a bit of an oddity around here, but plenty of nobles own one or two. So why ask the queen?" Shorebreaker asked.

"Fine," Fawn sighed. "I'm an animus an-" she was cut off by the SeaWing Queen.

"Another _animus_?" she almost shouted. "I thought they were rare, for three moon's sake!" she still wasn't shouted, but her voice was fierce. "Oh, I'm sorry, go on," she realized she'd interrupted the MudWing.

"And I'm going to craft some necklaces for them, and touch those necklaces so that no matter what, we can still contact each other through them. Like dreamvisitors, but for when we're awake. And I'd like them all to come directly from one Pyrrhia's queens, in hopes that it may enhance the necklaces' power. So we are all offering a trade to one of the queens, except Dragonfly, who's staying back home," Fawn continued. "So, please. Will you?"

Shorebreaker nodded. "Surge!" she yelled to the SeaWing sitting on the other island. "Go get a black pearl from the royal treasury!"

He was probably looking at her funny, but he just shrugged and dove into the sea. Shorebreaker turned back to Fawn. "So," she said. "Are you the BigWings in your group?" she asked the dragonet.

Fawn shook her head. "Alligator is, I'm the second-hatched, though," she smiled.

"How many siblings do you have?" Shorebreaker questioned. She had no real reason to ask all these questions, but she wanted to know about this MudWing's past. Or maybe she wanted to hope that the little animus would have a lot of strong support. Amphrite had always told her that being an animus was one of the scariest things that could happen to a dragonet.

"Six," Fawn answered obediently. "Alligator, Buck, Heron, Earthquake, Landslide, and Dragonfly." Fawn paused. "With no offense intended, Your Highness, was Princess Amphrite your only sibling?"

Shorebreaker smiled at her. "No, but my mother, Queen Conch, had a brother. He has a daughter now, so if I randomly die, then Seal will take my place."

Fawn cocked her head quizzically. "But that would make her your cousin. I thought only daughters, sisters, and nieces could try for the throne, not cousins. Is it different in the Kingdom of Sea?"

"That's true, but if the Queen died without a direct successor, then the closest related female would be the next queen. And that's Seal," Shorebreaker explained.

Surge climbed out of the water onto the island. "Here, Queen Shorebreaker," opened his bag and gave the black pearl to the queen. He jumped into the air to get back over to his island.

"Take it," Shorebreaker pressed the pearl between Fawn's talons. "Now I want you to go home, and eventually, send a letter telling me about how things are going back at your home, along with a picture of you and your siblings."

Fawn slid the pearl into her bag. She pulled out the amber and handed it to the SeaWing Queen. "Goodbye," she took off and flew back to MudWing territory.

Shorebreaker flew back to the other island, gathered the other SeaWings, and jumped into the sea.


	7. Chapter 6: Swimming With Seal

The sea grew darker as the sun set, and Shorebreaker retreated to her chambers. She yawned and climbed onto her bed, and was about to fall asleep when there was a sharp knock on the door. _I'm coming, I'm coming!_ she thought sleepily as she made her way to the door. She opened it to see Seal standing in front of it. " _Hi, what can I do for you?_ " she illuminated on her scales.

" _I'm sorry for waking you, Queen Shorebreaker, but I was hoping you'd help me with my swimming. Like, the Dolphin Jump, specifically,_ " she looked down at her talons dejectedly.

the queen smiled down at her cousin. " _Of course! Why wouldn't I?_ " she began swimming to the other door, gesturing with her wing for Seal to follow.

As they swam to the island that Shorebreaker had met up with Fawn on, Seal paused. " _Three Moons!_ " she cursed in aquatic. " _I need to do something real quick. I'll meet you on that island, I'm so sorry!"_ she swam in the other direction as fast as she could.

Shorebreaker inwardly shrugged, already forgiving the 5-year-old for it. She pulled her wings close, and began to spin. She used the momentum to leap from the sea. Shorebreaker spread her wings to soar over and land on the beach. She waited for a few moments before she saw Seal winging over the waves. "Sorry about that!" she landed beside her queen.

Shorebreaker nodded to the dragonet. The light of the three moons really showed how much of a light blue her scales were, along with a small amount of pink. It wasn't as pink as she had heard Anemone, an old SeaWig animus, had been. "Come on. Show me your Dolphin Jump," she used her wing to point to the ocean before them.

Seal dove into the water. She swam upwards, and then spread her wings. But she didn't go in the air like she was supposed to for he Dolphin Jump. "You need to accelerate in order to jump," Shorebreaker reminded.

Seal, who had already resurfaced, nodded. She dove back down, tried speeding up as she swam. Launching out of the water, she was a little sloppy in spreading her wings.

The two worked on the technique for a while longer.

Shorebreaker stifled a yawn. "We can work on this a bit more tomorrow, right now, I'm already half-asleep."

Seal nodded, "thank you again! I'll see you later, Queen Shorebreaker!" she ducked back under the water and swam back to the Deep Palace.

The queen really didn't have the energy to go and swim back to the palace, so she just laid down on the beach and almost immediately fell asleep.

Shorebreaker slowly blinked awake, to see Hurricane standing over her in a defensive stance. "Huh..?" she mumbled, slowly becoming more awake.

Hurricane looked back behind him, to see Shorebreaker waking up. he smiled and nodded down at her. But a snarl brought his focus back to ahead of him. "You will not harm Her Majesty, Queen Shorebreaker," he growled.

Shorebreaker got to her feet beside Hurricane. It was a NightWing.

A NightWing assassin was here to kill her.


	8. Chapter 7: The Assassin

The NightWing smiled. "Hello, Your Majesty, and company. Nice to meet you before I kill you. My client only asks for the Queen's death," she began to slowly circle around the two SeaWings. "But I prefer not to have any witnesses. It makes my escape a lot easier," she suddenly made a wild lunge for Hurricane.

He quickly sidestepped and jumped onto her. They wrestled in the sand for a moment. "Who _are_ you?" he asked as he pinned her to the sand.

"Why should I tell _you_?" the NightWing retorted.

Shorebreaker joined Hurricane in front of the assassin. "If you don't we'll kill you. Two dragons against one. One small island. Let's see, we could drown you. We could tear your throat out. We could slice your stomach. Plenty of options. What do _you_ think we should do, Hurricane?" Shorebreaker asked threateningly. " _Hurricane, we're not actually going to. Just play along,_ " she added in aquatic.

"Fine," the dragon said. "My name. Is Heart-Striker," abruptly, she surged upwards, throwing off the two dragons with surprising strength for her size. Hurricane leaped over Heart-Striker's head to land on her back. He dug his claws into her back as she made a mad swipe at Shorebreaker.

Shorebreaker dodged. She dove underneath the dragon, clawing her underbelly once or twice as she surged upwards. Hurricane jumped off as Heart-Striker was thrown into the air. She quickly dug into her bag to grab something." _Stop her!_ " Shorebreaker flashed at Hurricane frantically. She took to the air and went for the bag. The queen was just a heart-beat too late. Heart-Striker had stanched the bag away. Hurricane took the opportunity to tackle Heart-Striker from behind. They fell to the ground below, and Shorebreaker ran to catch them.

Heart-Striker, mid-air pulled out a strange, metal, disk from her bag as they fell. She threw it straight at Shorebreaker's neck. She dodged, and heart-Striker's aim was sloppy, but it caught her front leg. She let out a shriek and fell to the ground. Hurricane pinned Heart-Striker's wings to her sides as he descended to the ground.

"Can you find some seaweed or vines?" Hurricane asked. I'll guard this one," he promptly sat on Heart-Striker's chest.

"If I can walk," the SeaWing took a tentative step, it hurt, but she could still put weight on it. She stepped into the water, and swam around until she had gathered a large amount of seaweed. Resurfacing, she found Hurricane and Heart-Striker wrestling. Without a moment's hesitation, Shorebreaker jumped int to he fray. She planted her talons on Heart-Striker's wings, despite the great pain it caused her talons. "Get the seaweed," she hissed.

Hurricane nodded, and went back to where Shorebreaker had emerged from the water.

"Who is your _client_ you mentioned earlier?" Shorebreaker leaned down until she was nose-to-nose with the NightWing. "Why do they want me dead?"

Heart-Striker had the nerve to smile. "Sorry, sworn to secrecy. What are _you_ going to do with _me_ once I'm all tied up?"

That was a good question. _I don't actually know,_ Shorebreaker realized. _I'll send Hurricane back, to gather some more guards. We'll make some sort of makeshift prison for her, and have guards on duty at all times._ The Queen decided.

Heart-Striker smiled as if she could hear exactly what Shorebreaker was thinking. She realized all too late that Heart-Striker had the silver tear-drop scales that symbolized that a NightWing had either future-sight or mind-reading. "Yup. I can hear exactly what you're thinking," Heart-Striker confirmed.

"Three Moons. You already tried to kill me, could you at least _try_ to stay out my head," Shorebreaker muttered. She tried envisioning the crashing waves drowning out all of her thoughts. _Raging storms and crashing waves,_ she thought over and over in her head.

"Back!" Hurricane called. He came, and promptly tied the seaweed around Heart-Striker's talons, and some binding her wings to her sides. "Who should go back and get some guards to help out with this one?"

"I will," she winced as she descended back into the sea. She rapidly swam back to the Deep Palace, swimming straight into the barracks. " _Come! Right now! NightWing assassin!"_ Shorebreaker flashed with incredible urgency.

Stingray's head shot up. " _I want half the guards to come with me. The rest of you, guard the Palace,_ " he commanded.

The guards, soldiers, and the Queen fanned out as they swam back, scaring every fish in a hundred-mile-radius. They emerged from the water, and a few of them helped Hurricane hold down the assassin. "Okay," Shorebreaker started. "We're gonna have to create some sort of cage for her."

"Actually," Stingray interrupted. "There still is the prison in the Summer Palace. It just hasn't been used in a while," he explained. "And they are nearly impossible to escape from. Especially if we have a few guards on duty."

The queen nodded, and the guards began to lift her in the air.

And finally, it began to sink in. This had been planned. An assassination attempt while she was still a new queen. Someone wanted Seal to be queen. That someone must be a SeaWing. One of Shorebreaker's subjects wanted her dead.


	9. Chapter 8: Conch's Advice

**Whaaaat? No! This story is** _ **not**_ **dead, I'm sorry! I'll try and finish it up soon, so I can focus completely on my other story, and one about Heart-Striker herself is in the works! I'd love to start it now, as I have a lot of great ideas for it, but it will, of course, reveal who her "client" is, and we can't have that, can we? Nope, so I gotta finish this one up first. I'm expecting, maybe, two to four chapters after this, followed up by an epilogue. But please excuse if the ending, well, ends up a little rushed.**

 **Really short chapter this time, sorry! We will hopefully, have some big, epically long chapter in the future, but that's not this chapter.**

Heart-Striker sat on the island, careful not to let her tail touch the water. Queen Shorebreaker stalked imposingly forward. "I'll let you go free, without issue, if you just tell me who wants me dead. Or I can send you on your way to Stardancer's dungeon," she offered. Stardancer was the queen of both RainWings and NightWings, as the alliance had stayed strong throughout the years. And Queen Stardancer had mentioned an assassin on the loose once or twice, if Shorebreaker could remember the meetings that she had been forced to attend, back when she was a regular princess.

The assassin curled her talons around the rock at her feet. "I already told you. I'm sworn to secrecy, and I prefer not to break my vows," the NightWing snarled.

Well, then, be like that," Shorebreaker retorted. "Chain her up, she's a wily one, and I don't want her getting loose," she nodded to Stingray before flying to the island that she and stashed the Starfish. "Queen Conch," she murmured, before tapping it twice.

The misty form of her mother appeared before Queen Shorebreaker. "Hello," she smiled. "Why do you call upon my advice?" she cocked her head.

Shorebreaker sighed. "Mother, someone tried to assassinate me. I've captured the assassin, her name is Heart-Striker, and she refuses to speak. All I know is that, it has to be a SeaWing, as Seal would take the throne if I was killed. Besides, only a SeaWing would know where I was at that time, and could contact Heart-Striker."

Conch furrowed her brow. "Tell me word-for-word what happened. No summaries."

Shorebreaker nodded and told the former queen about everything that had happened that night, even the unimportant parts.

Her mother sat for a moment, her misty scales glowing in the light of the setting sun. She was growing fainter, they were running out of time. "From your description it sounds like-" and then the SeaWing disappeared, along with the mist.

"No!" Shorebreaker cursed, splashing herself, along with half the sand, when she smacked her tail into the surf.

"Your Highness!" Hurricane stumbled onto the sand. "Our prisoner, Heart-Striker, has disappeared!"


End file.
